(New York, February 12, 2013)—The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation (ALBF) reported today its latest round of grants, awarded to help fund public programs, teacher education, and other projects related to Lincoln and his legacy in Maryland, Kentucklty, Connecticut, Indiana, and Hawaii.
“In a period of intense public interest in Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, the Foundation is pleased to be able to identify and support projects that help sustain and build this important momentum,” commented Harold Holzer, Chairman of the ALBF Board. “With encouragement, the ‘age of Spielberg’ can also become an age of renewed education, scholarship, and civic engagement on the vital subjects of Lincoln and freedom. We hope that the growing popular fascination with these topics, aided by our own help and attention to some particularly intriguing ideas, will translate into permanent, useful, and enlightening historical appreciation.”
The Board convened for its most recent meeting on January 27, 2013, following a public conference the previous day at HistoryMiami, entitled “1863: The Civil War and the Fight for Freedom,” which featured a keynote address on “Concepts of War: Abraham Lincoln and ‘Stonewall’ Jackson” by noted historian James I. Robertson, Jr., emeritus professor at Virginia Tech. His remarks were followed by a panel discussion featuring ALBF scholar/board members Orville Vernon Burton, Thomas Campbell, Edna Greene Medford, Frank J. Williams, and Holzer, along with University of Miami history professor Michael Bernath. Television newsman and ALBF member Antonio Mora led audience discussion for the more than 150 people in attendance. This was the second consecutive program co-sponsored at HistoryMiami by the ALBF. A third annual event is scheduled for January 2014. The events were made possible in part by ALBF Board Member Jean Soman and her husband, Bill Soman
Recipients of the latest round of ALBF grants are:
• The Hartford County Library, Belcamp, Maryland ($2,000)—to help fund its “Civil War 150” project, to embrace a performance of music associated with Lincoln, an exhibition based on the Smithsonian Institution’s “Mask of Lincoln,” and presentations by scholars.
• The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, Yale University, in partnership with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati ($10,200)—for a program, to train teachers on the meaning of the Emancipation P:roclam,ation.
• The Mary Todd Lincoln House, Lexington, Kentucky ($2,500)—for research and program development to support interpretation of the Todd Family mansion (home of Lincoln’s future wife) for future visitors.
• The University of Hawaii at Hilo ($7,500)—to support a symposium on the Lincoln legacy to be named for Professor James Oliver Horton, a member of the original U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
• Friends of the Lincoln Collection of Indiana, Fort Wayne ($15,000)—to help support digitization of the former collection of the Lincoln National Life Foundation (later known as the Lincoln Museum).
Members of the ALBF Board are: Chairman Harold Holzer, of Rye, NY; Vice Chairman Burton, of Ninety-Six, South Carolina; Treasurer Thomas Campbell of Chicago; IL; Secretary Charles Scholz of Quincy, IL; Darrel Bigham of Evansville, IN; David Lawrence of Coral Gables, FL; Edna Greene Medford of Washington, D.C.; Antonio Mora of Coral Gables, FL; Jean Powers Soman of Pinecrest, FL; and Frank J. Williams of Hope Valley, RI.
The ALBF is the official successor foundation to the U. S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, created by the Congress and the President of the United States in 2000 to plan and organize events marking Lincoln’s 200th birthday. The successor organization seeks to encourage and support activities aimed at perpetuating the Commission’s original goal of completing Lincoln’s “unfinished work.”
Future applicants for grant funding should write Chairman Holzer at 205 East 78th Street, #14E, New York, NY 10075; or at haroldholzer@haroldholzer.com
For more information on the Foundation and its activities, pls see the ALBF website: www.lincolnbicentennial.org.